FAIRMONT, W.Va. — When needed most, Fairmont Senior’s boys basketball team strung together stops Friday night against East Fairmont in the Class AAA Region II, Section 1 title game.
As a result, the Polar Bears overcame a five-point deficit with less than 6 minutes to play and scored the final nine points over 3:15 to power past the Bees for a 52-45 victory at the 201st Fairmont Senior Field House.
“The end of the game, our defense got right and rebounding the ball was huge for us,” FSHS head coach David Retton said. “Very excited how we finished the game. It wasn’t one of our better games, but our guys stayed the course and continued to play hard.”
With the win, Fairmont Senior (23-1) claimed its third victory in as many matchups with East Fairmont (21-3) this season, and will stay at home for next Wednesday’s Region I final against Lincoln. The Bees will hit the road to face Elkins that same night with a state tournament spot at stake.
EFHS entered the fourth quarter leading 37-34, but the Polar Bears immediately pulled to within one on DeSean Goode’s jump shot.
However, the Bees answered in the form of consecutive Greyson Stewart layups, the latter of which left the visitors leading 41-36 with 5:50 left.
With East Fairmont leading by five and utilizing a zone defense in an effort to force the Polar Bears to hit from the perimeter, Fairmont Senior found someone to do just that — freshman Julz Butler.
Butler, who made his first of three three-pointers with 2:30 to play in the third quarter, connected from behind the arc to bring his team to within two points.
After Stewart scored again from close range, Butler countered with another triple, allowing Fairmont Senior to trail 43-42 with 5:10 remaining.
“I felt comfortable taking those and I knew our team needed them,” Butler said.
“He hit some big shots,” Retton said of Butler. “The confidence that he has in his shot and also it says so much about the other guys and the confidence they have in him to get him the ball. That’s great teamwork.”
Stewart broke a 43-all tie with two free throws at the 3:34 mark, but the Bees never scored again. Stewart was responsible for all eight of his team’s points in the final quarter.
A putback from Goode enabled the Polar Bears to pull even with 3:15 left, and he scored again inside 45 seconds later to give his team its first lead of the fourth quarter.
“It was twofold. On offense, we got better movement, our shot selection was better and we made some shots,” Retton said. “That helped with our transition defense. Defensively, we stopped fouling. we had some possessions where we would play well and then we didn’t finish the possession. Consequently, we put them on the line and they got some makes.”
The Bees had the ball for nearly 2 minutes without shooting on the ensuing possession and used timeouts with 2:21 and 46 seconds remaining. Out of the second one, Evan Parr attempted a right wing three that was off the mark and rebounded by Butler. Parr had a decent look on the play, in which he came off a screen and quickly released the shot with 32 seconds left.
“Exactly what we wanted,” Bees’ head coach Tyrone Asterino said. “There were a couple options that we had. He took that one, but we wanted to make sure that we got a good possession out of it, because it was a two-point game.”
Following Parr’s miss, the Bees, with only three team fouls, had to foul four more times to send Fairmont Senior to the free-throw line. However, after being whistled for three fouls, East Fairmont allowed Zycheus Dobbs to find Goode in the open court, and he attacked the basket and produced a conventional three-point play with 21 seconds left, allowing the Polar Bears to lead by five with 21 seconds remaining.
“Attack the rim,” Goode said of his mindset in that spot. “I knew there was a couple seconds left. Zycheus got double-teamed, they only had one back and I know they feel confident with me taking that shot, so I took it.”
The Bees led 10-8 after one quarter and 14-11 early in the second after consecutive buckets from Stewart, who made each of his first seven field-goal attempts. However, East Fairmont was held to two field goals over the final 6 minutes of the opening half, and in turn, the Polar Bears outscored East Fairmont 13-5 over the final 5:44 of the half starting with two Dobbs free throws. Dobbs also hit a three during that spurt, while Butler scored the first of his 11 points on a layup. Goode scored his team’s final four points of the half on a follow-up and two free throws, helping Fairmont Senior lead 24-19 at halftime.
When Goode began the third-quarter scoring with a trey, it was danger time for the Bees.
They responded in the exact fashion Asterino was hoping for, and starting with two Parr free throws, the Bees would outscore FSHS 18-7 the remainder of the third quarter.
Drew Moore’s corner three and an Ian Crookshanks layup brought the Bees to within 27-26, and Crookshanks made a left-handed scoop shot for his second of two straight field goals that put the Bees in front 30-29 for their first lead since 16-15.
Goode answered with a transition layup that was followed by Butler’s first three, but Jackson Crouso, Stewart and Crookshanks each made field goals during East Fairmont’s 7-0 run to close the quarter, allowing the visitors to lead by three with 8 minutes left.
“Down the stretch, people make plays and you have to know what you’re doing,” Asterino said. “When you know what you’re doing, you make the plays that we made in the third quarter and not the plays from the fourth quarter. But they’re a good team and they have good personnel.”
Goode led all players with 23 points and eight rebounds. Butler scored 11 points and Dobbs added nine points with a game-high six assists.
Stewart made 7-of-8 shots and scored 17 points, while Moore added 11 in defeat.
Both teams had 12 turnovers and shot nearly identical percentages. The Bees made 18-of-37 shots to the Polar Bears’ 20-for-40 shooting.
All three of the Bees’ losses this season are to the Polar Bears by an average of less than nine points per game.
“If we beat you twice, that doesn’t mean that we’re going to beat you a third time,” Retton said. “You have to show up and play. It’s truly not about beating a team three times. I can’t speak for Ty, but I don’t think they were thinking about the two losses. We were thinking about tonight and they were thinking about tonight. We just needed to beat them one time and we did that.”